Mapping and location determination technology plays as increasing role in mobile device software applications. The ability to display dynamic maps on mobile devices and to draw spatial relationships between objects onto arbitrary maps (e.g. street maps, topographical maps, transportation system maps, indoor maps) is important to facilitate their effective usage. There are several conflicting priorities that make the effective use of maps on mobile devices difficult.
For example, there is a need for fitting high-resolution local maps and distant data on the same map. Usually users want zoomed in maps that show their immediate vicinity, or the immediate vicinity of an item they are interested in (e.g. is there parking spot near the movie theater I am going to?). At the same time, users are often interested in the relationship between the location they are looking at and items that do not fit on the current map (e.g. in what direction and how far is the closest exit to the shopping mall I am standing in?—with the current map showing all the stores in my immediate vicinity).
This problem is exacerbated because mobile devices have much smaller screen surface areas than most desktop/laptop computers and paper maps, and also have more limited input mechanisms for navigating maps. The problem exists even on a desktops which have relatively large screens and rich mouse (with buttons, roller wheels, drag/drop capabilities) and keyboard inputs, but extremely difficult on a mobile phone with its screen being 5-10% the size of a desktop screen and having only a simple keypad (or sometime touch screen) for input.
Another example of the aforementioned conflicting priorities involves the need for orientation of maps displayed on mobile devices. Mobile devices can display maps on their screens, however it is problematic for end user's to understand which way they must orientate the maps. As above, this is greatly exacerbated by the relatively small screens of the devices. The utility of having a mobile device near-instantly display a convenient map is largely defeated if the device's user must walk around trying to look at street signs and other near-range markers in an effort to orientate themselves. For a stationary desktop computer people make abstract decisions about maps so the user's physical orientation to the map is not particularly important. On mobile devices people want to make instantaneous decisions and physically orientate themselves and the digital map just as they would a map printed on paper. They will want to turn their bodies and point the mobile devices in orientations where the maps match their surroundings.
Finally, a third example of the conflicting priorities is based on the need for orientation of others based on map information. A user of a mobile device may need to guide remote individuals and give them orientation information. It is difficult and frustrating to do this if the person giving these directions can not provide the other individual with useful distance and orientation cues. Allowing the viewer of the map to easily “put themselves in the shoes of others” and relate the directions they give them to the remote users' surroundings (e.g. “Do you see the Eiffel tower in the distance in front of you? OK. Walk 4 blocks and keep the Eiffel tower on your left.)
These are but only three examples among a myriad of situations that arise when trying to display dynamic maps on mobile devices and to draw spatial relationships between objects onto arbitrary maps. Software developers building mobile applications for both indoor and outdoor usage (as well as hybrid usage indoors and outdoors) need to be able to provide the applications' users with easy to use and highly accurate distance and orientation information.